Directs horror before Hit Somebody...

The film, which he describes as “so bleak that it makes The Dark Knight look like Strawberry Shortcake” has been languishing in development hell for a while now.

Probably because it’s based on a real individual, Westboro Baptist Church leader Fred Phelps (below), and doesn’t paint a very attractive picture of him or the organisation.

No fresh news on the script, but back in 2007 Smith told Rotten Tomatoes that “it’s certainly not Phelps himself but it’s very much inspired by a Phelps figure.”

He added:

“To me, too, the notion of using a Phelps-like character as a villain, as horrifying and scary as that guy can be, there’s even something more insidious than him that lurks out there in as much as a public or a government that allows it and that’s the other thing that I’m trying to examine in a big, big way.

“It’s weird because for a few months I’ve been saying ‘horror movie’ and technically it is, but it’s also not a very traditional horror movie in the sense that people have been asking me, ‘Is it a slasher movie? Is it like the Japanese horror flicks?’

“It’d be much easier to just show it to them when I’m done and be like, ‘This is what I meant.’ At which point I’m sure there’ll be people saying, ‘This ain’t a horror movie!’ But to me, it is.”